A Note to Our Commenters: Debate the Ideas, Not the People

Comments on TSL’s website are an essential part of 5C campus discourse. Our articles can only say so much. We depend on commenters to bring other perspectives to the stories, as we can’t be the only voices in the conversation. We need yours as well, so we encourage lively discussion on our articles.

Unfortunately, the anonymity of the Internet allows for intolerance to rear its ugly head. Personal attacks have never been welcome on our website, but from this moment on we will take a more active stance in enforcing this policy. As such, this is as good a time as any to remind the users of our site to debate important issuess without digressing into disrespect.

At the same time, we will approach any comment in question with the same civility that we expect from commenters. We will ask you to remove any offending portions in your comment yourself. If there is no easy way of contacting you, if you don’t respond in a timely manner, or if you refuse, then we will take matters into our own hands.

None of this policy is new, but it bears repeating given some particularly disparaging comments we’ve received recently. When commenting, we ask that you refer to the maxim “debate the ideas, not the people.” Personal attacks are unnecessary, uncivil and unwelcome on our website, and we hope that you agree.

If you have any questions or comments about this, or if there’s a comment you feel violates our policy, please email editor@tsl.pomona.edu or comment below. We only ask that you be respectful while doing so.